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Newton’s teachers are on strike. Here’s what’s next.
On Thursday, 98% of the Newton Teachers Association voted in favor of a strike. Classes were canceled Friday.
On Thursday night, the Newton Teachers Association voted to go on strike. Ninety-eight percent of the union voted to authorize the strike, which comes after more than a year of tense negotiations between the educators and city officials. Classes were canceled Friday.
Talks appeared to break down recently, with both sides releasing statements blaming the other for the lack of a resolution. Momentum for the strike gathered this week, and Mayor Ruthanne Fuller sent a note to the community Tuesday warning that one was likely coming. The Newton School Committee filed a petition for a strike investigation with the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board, as state law bans public employees like teachers from striking.
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If the strike lasts long enough, the Massachusetts Superior Court could impose fines on the NTA. Despite the illegality of teachers strikes, Massachusetts has seen a wave of educators taking to the picket line in recent years to fight for better pay and working conditions. Teachers unions in Brookline, Andover, Haverhill, and Malden all chose to strike in 2022 or 2023 alone.
NTA President Mike Zilles announced the strike at a press conference Thursday night, and it began Friday. Zilles described going from school to school throughout November and December to talk with teachers and see if there was interest in a strike.
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“What we heard was not, ‘Oh, we want to go on strike,’ not at all,” he said. Members did not want to leave their classrooms but “felt so disrespected, so abandoned, so left alone by the political leaders in this city that they knew they had no choice but to go out on strike and say ‘Mayor Fuller, enough is enough.’”
How long the strike will last was not immediately clear. The NTA and the School Committee are scheduled to resume bargaining Friday, according to a release from the union. Members of the NTA say they have been working without a contract since August. Their stated goals are to win better wages for instructional aides and behavior therapists, place social workers in every elementary school, get “humane and modern paid family leave” for all educators, and negotiate fair cost-of-living adjustments for teachers.
Zilles detailed specifics of the negotiations from the NTA’s perspective in an open letter this week. A School Committee analysis of how negotiations have developed can also be found online, as can the district’s most recent proposal.
“The School Committee’s focus right now is returning our kids to the classroom. We will do everything possible to reach a competitive agreement that both honors our educators and provides program improvements and necessary supports for our students,” the committee said in a statement Thursday after the vote. “The NTA can end this strike at any time and educators can return to the classroom. We ask them to do exactly that so that students do not continue to experience disruption to their educational experience.”
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A rally will take place outside Newton City Hall at 1 p.m. on Friday for union members and their allies. Other teachers unions around the state are asking their members to wear blue Friday in support of the NTA. The organization is also asking for donations online.
Superintendent Anna Nolin laid out some specifics in a message to the school community Thursday night. All public school buildings will be closed, and all school-related events and activities will be postponed until the strike ends. Nolin committed to sending messages to families each day by 7:30 p.m. to let them know if school will be in session the following day.
The canceled classes will be treated like snow days, to be made up at the end of the school year. Students will not be able to access anything in the school buildings while they are closed. However, if a student needs medication or health supplies in a school building, their family should email their school’s principal to arrange picking those materials up.
Newton Public Schools will be offering “grab and go” meals in a similar fashion to what took place during the height of the pandemic. Families can pick up three days worth of breakfasts and lunches beginning Friday. Details can be found on the district’s website.
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“As a parent and long-time teacher, I am heartbroken that the failure of negotiations has led to this moment. This is detrimental to the health and well-being of our students and they should always be our first priority,” Nolin wrote in her message.
According to Zilles, 21 out of 24 members of the City Council signed a statement demanding that the NTA not go on strike.
“The members of this union are the bravest people in this city,” Zilles told a cheering crowd Thursday night. “The city councilors, the School Committee, none of our elected officials are willing to stand up to Mayor Fuller and say ‘No.’”
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